HOSTING DESCRIPTION:

1. Research / Project Description

The project will be focused in nanosafety and risk assessment fields, in particular, on the development and validation of new tools for assessment of the risk for human health of exposure to new nanomaterials (NM), and toxicity evaluation of nanoparticles of biomedical use.

The development and use of new NM with numerous industrial, consumer and biomedical applications is dramatically increasing in the last years. Due to the very high surface area of these NM their physical-chemical properties are totally different from the same bulk material. And this means that the toxicological properties may also differ, so there is a growing concern about the potential adverse effects for human health that the production or use of NM-containing products may involve, particularly those with biomedical purposes. It is therefore necessary and urgent not only to identify, delimit and characterize the risk associated to exposure to NM, but also to develop and validate new tools that allow to carry out this characterization accurately, avoiding false positives or negatives, and correctly identifying the possible harmful effects of NM. On this basis, the main aim of this project will be the standardization of different toxicology protocols for specific evaluation of nanotoxicity, and the evaluation of the human health effects of exposure to metal oxide NM, mainly at the cellular and molecular level.

2. Research areas (as established in MSCA):

Life Sciences (LIF)

(Keywords: nanomaterials, nanotoxicology, nanosafey, risk assessment)

3. Brief description of the Centre / Research Group:

The candidate will be incorporated to the Behavioural and Molecular Diagnostics Applied to Health (DICOMOSA) research group which is member of the Strategic Group CICA-INIBIC (http://cicainibic.udc.es/), formed by the Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (CICA), where the research project will be developed, and the Coruña Biomedical Research Institute (INIBIC) (both in A Coruña, Spain).

The research activity of the DICOMOSA research group (www.dicomosa.org) started in 1998, and it comprises, among others, the study and characterization of the risks for human health associated with the exposure to polluting agents, both from environmental and occupational sources. For that purpose, the group has developed and employed numerous methodologies for the evaluation of biomarkers of exposure, effects and susceptibility, and performed in vitro toxicological studies and human population studies in exposed individuals.

In last years, the DICOMOSA research was focused on several different research lines, including the two involved in the proposed: characterization of potential toxic effects of nanomaterials, and development and validation of new biomarkers for human biomonitoring. The multidisciplinary research of the group will give the candidate the opportunity to learn a number of techniques and methodological procedures from the other research lines.

The project supervisor, Dr. Vanessa Valdiglesias (CV; Valdiglesias), is a DICOMOSA research group member with a strong expertise in Genetic Toxicology and Nanotoxicology fields. She is a `Beatriz Galindo Distinguished Research Fellow at the Strategic-Group CICA-INIBIC.

The project is also supported by Dr. Miguel Martinez- Calvo (CV), member of the research group Chemical Reactivity and Photo-reactivity at CICA, who will supervise the chemical part of the study and provide the engineered nanomaterials with biomedical purposes that will be assessed.

4. Applications (Documents to be submitted and deadline)

For the evaluation of candidates, please submit electronically to otri.cienciaexcelente@udc.es, and CC to vanessa.valdiglesias@udc.es (REF. CICA-VV) before 16th June:

• CV (max 2 pages) describing your academic achievements and your research expertise, focusing on those aspects relevant in the context of this project.
• Letter of motivation

Institution: University of A Coruña

Centre: Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (CICA)

Address: Campus de Elviña s/n – 15008 – A Coruna (Spain)